


The Wait for Dawn

by LinnyBear



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, followed by post coital cuddling, i don't know why i do these things to myself, mild episode 78 spoilers, really strongly implied sex, scenes i wanted so i wrote it myself
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-11
Updated: 2016-12-11
Packaged: 2018-09-08 00:06:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8821699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LinnyBear/pseuds/LinnyBear
Summary: Tomorrow, the world could end. Tomorrow, Allura must bid goodbye to Kima once again, this time, possibly, for good.
Tonight, though, it's just them, and a forgotten cup of tea, and a promise.





	

Kima returns to their house just before dusk, sweaty and sore but content with the evening’s training. It had taken her all the self control she had not to train herself to exhaustion. She needed her strength for tomorrow, after all. She just, also needed to work out a bit of tension. Or, anxiety? She wouldn’t admit it was fear, just yet.

Allura arrives at their house just as Kima is finished dressing down and cleaning up for the night and had finished boiling a kettle on the stove for them. She looks exhausted, and drawn, and a little windblown, somehow, but she takes the tea Kima offers with a smile that just manages to settle the knot she didn’t realized had wound itself in her stomach.

She just… Does that.

She brings stories too. Allura had been to Keyleth’s home village, apparently, and helped secure the aid of the Air Ashari. It seemed things were falling together, much better than they had hoped for, at least. The army was ready, Vox Machina was preparing, and they had at least twenty percent of a solid plan. Allura laughs, then, and it lights up her face, even through the fatigue. 

This could almost feel normal, Kima thinks. Just two lovers, ending their evening together over tea. This could be normal.

Nothing for them will ever be normal.

She’s going to fight a dragon tomorrow. She’s going to fight  _ Thordak  _ tomorrow. Thordak, who took their friends from them before, who had nearly ended the world more than once. Who, if what Allura said was true, was more of the terror than he was then, more than just a dragon, more than a beast.

Allura would be safe, at least. For the moment. She’d protect Whitestone, and its people, while Kima charged into the fray. If everything went wrong, if Thordak bested them and she and Vox Machina never returned, Allura was safe and Whitestone was safe and some part of Tal’Dorei might just survive.

But she can’t say… It. Can’t remind Allura that this might be their last night together. Can’t remind her that in the morning, she faces certain death. Would that be cruel? Or is that necessary? Allura had to know - they’d talked about it, once, briefly, both admitting they’d do  _ everything  _ to bring Thordak down, and it hurt but they  _ knew -  _

But it’s real, tonight. And it’s heavy on both of them, if the almost pained glances Allura keeps throwing her way are any indication. She knows. 

Kima still wants to  _ say,  _ it.  _ I love you. I’ll always love you. No matter how this ends. _

Finally, Kima speaks up, takes Allura’s hand in her own. Opens and closes her mouth a few times, looking for the words. “Allie… “

Allura closes the gap between them in an instant, kissing her with a ferocity Kima knows will be burned into her forever. Kima meets the kiss in kind, winding her fingers through Allura’s hair, pressing her tongue past her lover’s lips. As she lets herself be pressed back against the table, tea entirely forgotten, she forgets any conversation they needed to have.

 

They talk about everything  _ but  _ afterwards, about Allura’s work and Kima’s adventures and memories from decades long past. Allura rests comfortably with Kima on the couch - and how they actually made it to the couch, she can’t remember, through the flurry touches and kisses, clothing discarded in a trail to the sitting room, furniture knocked over and Kima is  _ certain  _ she heard a vase fall and break - Allura’s hair has come loose from its braids, spilling over her bare shoulders, framing a light, satisfied smile on the arcanist’s face. She’s beautiful, truly, and Kima can’t help but be so grateful to have her, all of her, even just for now.

_ Bahamut, thank you for this moment. If this is my last, I think I’ll be ok. _

Kima yawns, and Allura leans up to press a quick kiss to her cheek. “You should sleep.” She says, the words a sigh. “As should I. Tomorrow will be… Long.”

“Yeah. Yeah, it will.”

Allura doesn’t move just yet, though. Instead, she traces a finger down one of the longer scars along Kima’s stomach and chest, one of the worst she received in that hell in the Underdark that seems so long ago now. Her hands ghost over a few other scars, some new, some with stories she’d already told Allura, some with stories she had yet to tell.

Her hand finally settles on the side of Kima’s face, and she kisses her again. The kiss is slow, and wandering, and  _ desperate,  _ and Kima does all she can to commit it to memory. Just in case.  _ Just  _ in case.

“You’ll come back to me.” Allura whispers, forehead pressed against Kima’s. “You  _ will. _ When this is over, you’ll come home.”

“I know,” Is all Kima can offer.

Allura kisses her again. “You know.”

Kima realizes she intends to keep this promise.

**Author's Note:**

> So like I completely understand, from a story telling stand point, and a game managing standpoint, why Matt wouldn't give these two a "goodbye except please don't let this be goodbye" scene. I do. Like the guy has enough NPCs on his plate and waaaay too many puppet strings and things to keep track of so this wasn't important I /guess/ uuugh.
> 
> So I wrote it. I regret nothing, ever, when it comes to these two.


End file.
